Method of treating iron or steel.



weight of the'product. A comp I Myfi be added to a given weig t of ironor steel 7 UNITED PATENT orrrcn.

FREDERICK M. BECKET, E

NIAGARA EALLs, NEW Yonx, ASSIGNOR-KTO ELECTED METALLURGICAL COMPANY, orNEW YoEmnv Y A CORPORATION or WEST vm- GINIA; i- .METHOD OF TREATINGIRON OR STEEL.

i 940,665. specification'of Letters Yatent,

No Drawing.

' PatentedNov. 23, 1909. v

Application filed November 7,1908.- Serial No. 461,509.

'T 0 all whom it may concern: v Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. BECKET,a Sl1b]6Ct Of the King of Great Britain, re-

siding at Nia ara Falls, in the county of 5 Niagara and .10 or steel. toremove therefrom gaseous and other 1mpurities effect upon the whichexert a deleterious propertles of the metal by incorporatin therewiththe elements titanium, silicon an carbon.

According tothe invention there is incorporated with the molten metal,usually at the time of casting, an alloy or mixture containing titanium,silicon and carbon, pref- IQO erably in proportions substantially ashere- This alloypossesses defiinafter described. nlte advantages forsuch useas compared with metallic titanium, ferro-titaniu'm, or

titanium carbid, in which forms the metal titanium has heretofore beenavailable for use in the treatment of iron or steel.

When titanium ores or ores of titaniumand iron are reduced bycarbon inan electric I f, furnace, sufiicient carbon being'employed to insurefair commerclal efficiency of the. op-

eration, there is formed a product containing a large proportion ofcarbon-,such pro portion amounting in the case. of titanium carbid toapproximately twenty per cent; by ound of this character is extremelyhard, dlflicultly fusible, and dissolves but slowl in molten metal.

" It is moreover objectionab e'by reason of its ihigh carbon content,inasmuch as the quan- 'of the titanium com ound which may is necessarilylimited by the carbon content permisslble in the resulting metal. I havediscovered that by associatmg siliconjin substantial proportions withthe titani1'1m,and by effecting proper conditions,'the'proportion ofcarbon product acthe reduction under may be greatly reduced and thequires new and valuable characteristics.

' The i 1 silicon in this case acts to some extent as a Icarbon-excluding agent.

It 1s essentialthat the titanium should be I present in the alloy inproportion to render 1t of value for technical purposes, say in. 5excess offive' per cent, and the percentage of .result is not fixed andinvariable,

metal, and to modify the silicon shouldbe sufiicientto exerta markedeffect upon the carbon content, that is to say carbon content to ten percent.

to reduce the or less. It should be understood that the percentage ofsilicon required to effect this but bears a: general proportion to thepercentage of titanium present, for the reason that a given percentageof silicon exerts less effect in reducing the carbon content of an alloyhigh relatively low in titanium.

An example of the com osition of an alloy made in accordance wlth thepresent process is given in the following analysis Titanium 33.70 Iron43. 69 Silicon 14. 23

' Carbon 8. 32 Aluminum .08 Calcium Trace 1 In case of alloys lower illtitanium the percentage of silicon above noted would yield a product oflower carbon contehtgand in case of alloys still richer-in titanium'itwill-be necessary to increase very considerabl the percentage ofsilicon-in order to maintain the carbon content of the alloy withindesirable limits. In casestill lower carbon contents are desired, thesecan be secured by suitably increasing the proportion of silicon in thealloy. grade rutile, products may withmy process present as comparedwith ferro-titanium melting point and a capacity for entering morefreely into solution in molten iron or steel, furthermore, "by reason oftheir comparatively low carbon content they may be added, if desired, inrelatively large pro-j portions without unduly increasing the proportionof carbon in the resulting metal.

the advantages of a lower Y i in titanium than isthe case with an alloy1 By using a highbe obtained containing less iron than'is indicated bythe 9 above analysis. 1

Titanium alloys produced in accordance Their appearance varies' somewhatin accordance'with the mode of their production, rate of cooling, etc.;in general they .hav'e-a metallic luster and a moreor less distinctcrystalline fracture; they are very fusible as compared with titaniumccarbid or metalllc titanium, and much softer than these prod- They arecomparatively brittle and 'state.. of subnets. are readily crushed .tosuch lot division as is desirable for insuring their complete solutionin molten iron or steel. The process may be carried out under varyingconditions, the essential feature being the reduction in an electricfurnace of an ore containing titanium, in presence of carbon and ofsufficient silicon to exclude from the product carbon in excess of tenper cent. The following methods are satisfactory: (1)

by reducing by carbon in an electric furnace a charge containing oxideof titanium and silicon; (2), by reducing oxid of titanium by carbon inan electric furnace, ferrosilicon or silicon being incorporated with thecharge or added to the bath. The carbon is usually employed insubstantially the in a suitable state of subdivision is added to orincorporated with the molten metal, preferably at the time of casting. 1The proportion of alloy added depends upon the gracle'or character ofthe molten metal as well as upon the nature of the product decertaintythe complete function of each in-. gredient of the above describedalloy. 11;-

maybe assumed however that the titanium acts chiefly upon the occludednitrogen, and

the silicon upon the hydrogen and dissolved oxids. The result of theaddition of the combined elements is to greatly improve the character oftheiron or steel by reason of the elimination of a substantialproportion of its impurities and the presence in the finished metal ofthe excess of titanium, silicon and carbon employed; and to produce ahomogeneous and uniform product.

I claim:

Themethod of treating iron and steel, which consists in incorporatingwith the molten metal an alloy containing more than five per cent. eachof titanium and silicon and less than ten per cent. of carbon, said Yalloy being relatively fusibleas compared with metallic titanium andtitanium cal-bid. In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature in presenceof two Witnesses.

- FREDK. M. BECKET. 'Witnesses:

' J. N. DEINHARDT,

D. BURGESS.

